Savannah tops in agricultural exports in 2019

The Port of Savannah was the top U.S. port in terms of containerized agricultural exports in 2019, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) said Thursday.

Agricultural products exported totaled more than 843,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in calendar year 2019, GPA said. Those agricultural volumes accounted for 60% of the port’s exports. Forest products such as wood pulp, paper and logs, as well as clay, cotton and poultry are under the agricultural products umbrella.

GPA drew on IHS Markit’s PIERS database for import and export data and bills of lading. GPA stated that Savannah’s share of agricultural exports in 2019 among U.S. East, Gulf and West Coast ports was 15.8%, while the Port of Los Angeles accounted for 15.3%, “other” ports had 12.3% and the Port of Long Beach had 10.2%.

Meanwhile, total loaded exports at Savannah in the fiscal year to date, July 2019 to May 2020, were 1.33 million TEUs, an increase of 15,500 from the same period a year ago.

Port City Logistics to expand facility

Savannah’s growing role in agricultural exports comes as Port City Logistics in Chatham County, Georgia, announced that it would be building a new headquarters and warehouse facility, according to local news reports. 

The expansion will enable Port City Logistics, a third-party logistics company, to handle an additional 50,400 TEUs through the Port of Savannah. 

Port City Logistics, established in 2001, has 2 million square feet of warehouse space across multiple facilities within 5 miles of the Port of Savannah, and it offers services in warehousing and distribution, port drayage, and full truckload and less-than-truckload freight.

Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Joanna Marsh.

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